POLYGALACEAE 585 



ing at the top by a pore ; ovary 2-celled ; ovules 2 ; fruit a 2-seeded pod. A 

 small order of about 700 species, found chiefly in the tropical and temperate 

 regions. Some species of the order produce a strong fiber. 



Polygala (Tourn.) L. Milkwort 



Herbs or shrubs; simple entire, dotted leaves without stipules; flowers 

 perfect, irregular, occasionally cleistogamous ; calyx of 5 sepals, the 2 lateral 

 known as wings, large, colored, the other small, greenish ; petals 3, free, connected 

 with each other and the stamen tube ; stamens 6 or 8, filaments united below 

 or in 2 sets ; pistil 1 ; ovary 2-celled ; ovules 1 in each cell ; fruit mainly capsu- 

 lar ; seeds with a caruncle, anatropous ; embryo large ; little endosperm. About 

 250 species, of wide distribution, chiefly of warm regions. A genus of little 

 economic importance. 



Polygala Senega L. Seneca Snakeroot 



Plants clustered, several from a woody and knotty rootstock, simple 6-12 

 inches high ; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate with rough margins ; dense 

 spike, long peduncle; flowers white, none cleistogamous; wings round-obovate ; 

 crest short; seeds hairy. 



Distribution. In rocky woods or clay soil. New Brunswick to Minnesota, 

 Central Iowa to the Rockies in Canada. 



Poisonous properties. The dried root is gathered when the leaves are dead. 





Fig. 323. Seneca Snakeroot (Polygala 

 Senega). Dried root is made into a 

 powder which is very acrid. (From John- 

 son's Med. Bot. of N. A.). 



